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Compare two Excel files
TableDI’s Excel comparison tool runs in this tab. Drop the old file and the new one: you get every cell that changed, every row that appeared and every row that vanished — in about a second. Both files are read on your computer and neither one is uploaded. Unlike Microsoft’s Spreadsheet Compare, which needs Excel for Windows on an enterprise Office edition, it needs nothing installed; unlike the free online widgets from Diffchecker, Draftable and ExcelCompare.org, it can match rows by a key column so a re-sorted export still lines up. The table below compares all six.
First file
Drop .xlsx or .csv here, or click to choose
Second file
The revised version you want to check
Doing this every month? Do it once in TableDI 2, save it as a job, and run it again next month. Download TableDI 2 free
Nothing is uploaded. The file is read by JavaScript in this tab and never leaves your computer — no server sees it, and closing the tab throws it away.
How to compare two Excel files
- Open both files. Drop the original .xlsx or .csv into the first box and the revised one into the second. Nothing uploads; both are read in your browser.
- Pick the sheets. If a workbook has several sheets, choose which one to compare on each side. Sheets with the same name are lined up for you.
- Choose how rows line up. Match by position to compare row 1 with row 1, or match by a key column such as an ID or email so re-sorted rows still pair correctly.
- Read the result. Changed cells show the old value struck through and the new value beside it. Rows that exist on only one side are colored. Download the differences as CSV or XLSX.
What tools can I use to compare two Excel files?
Six are worth knowing, and TableDI is one of them — this page is its browser tool. They differ on three things that actually decide the choice, so the criteria come before the table:
- Does the file leave your machine? An online comparison that uploads two spreadsheets is a different risk from one that reads them in the tab. For a payroll export or a customer list, it is the whole decision.
- Can rows be matched by a key? Position matching breaks the moment one row is inserted or the export is sorted differently. Key matching is what makes the answer trustworthy.
- What do you need installed, and on which OS? Some of these are Windows-only, one needs a specific Microsoft 365 edition, and some need nothing at all.
| Tool | Where it runs | File leaves your machine | Match by a key column | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Spreadsheet Compare | Excel for Windows only | No | No | Included, but only in Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise and equivalent editions |
| Diffchecker | Browser, plus a desktop app | Online: yes. Desktop: no — Diffchecker says diffs “never leave your computer” | Yes — it can match up rows and columns using the header row | Free tier; paid plans; desktop app is paid |
| xlCompare | Windows desktop app | No | Yes | Paid, with a fully-functional evaluation version |
| Draftable | Browser widget, plus desktop | Online: yes. Desktop: no | Not in the free online widget | Free online widget; paid desktop and enterprise |
| ExcelCompare.org | Browser | No — it states differences are spotted “without uploading your data” | No | Free, no install, no account |
| TableDI (this page) | Browser; the desktop app is a separate product | No — both files are read in this tab | Yes — by position or by a key column you choose | Free, no account |
Who each one suits — and who it does not
- Microsoft Spreadsheet Compare is the right answer if your organization is already on the enterprise Office edition that includes it and you are on Windows: it is built into the product and it reports formula changes, which the browser tools on this list cannot. It is the wrong answer on a Mac, on Microsoft 365 Personal or Business, or on a machine without Excel — Microsoft’s own documentation says it is available “only in Excel for Windows in Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise plans and equivalent editions”.
- Diffchecker is the most capable of the general-purpose diff tools and it covers text, images and documents as well as spreadsheets. If you compare more than spreadsheets, it is probably the one tool to have; its desktop app is the version to use for anything confidential.
- xlCompare is a proper Windows application with formula-level comparison and merge. If you need to resolve differences rather than just see them, a desktop application beats a web page — and this one is in that category. Windows only.
- Draftable is strongest on documents; Excel is one format among several. The free online widget is fine for a quick look, and the row-matching control you want for re-sorted exports is not in it.
- ExcelCompare.org is the shortest path to a free in-browser answer with nothing to install. Position matching only, so an inserted row will read as a wall of changes.
- TableDI — this page — is the one to use when the file is confidential and the rows have moved: key-column matching, nothing uploaded, no account, and a downloadable report. It is the wrong answer if you need formula differences (it compares the calculated values Excel stored, see the questions below), if you want to merge the two sides rather than read the differences, or if the workbook is large enough that holding the whole grid in memory is a problem.
Facts in the table come from each tool’s own documentation, read on 2026-09-13. Nothing here is a measured benchmark, and none of these vendors was asked. If something is out of date, it is our mistake to fix: tell us.
Match by position, or match by a key column
This is the choice that decides whether a comparison is useful, and most online tools do not offer it.
By position compares row 1 with row 1, row 2 with row 2. It is the right choice when the two files are the same report generated a week apart and nothing has been re-sorted. Insert one row near the top, though, and everything below it reports as changed.
By a key column matches rows on a value you nominate — an order number, an email address, a SKU. Rows can be re-sorted, filtered or interleaved and they still pair up correctly, and you get a real answer to the question you actually had: which records changed, which are new, which disappeared. Choose the column that is unique per row; if the key repeats, matching rows are paired in the order they appear.
Sheets, worksheets, workbooks, files — which one you actually have
Searches for comparing spreadsheets arrive in four wordings that mean three different jobs, and picking the wrong one wastes the first ten minutes. The distinction is what the two things you are comparing live in:
- Two separate files.
budget-v1.xlsxandbudget-v2.xlsx, or an export from last week and this week. That is this page. - Two tabs inside one workbook. January and February on separate sheets of the same file — compare Excel sheets takes one file and lets you pick the two tabs.
- Two workbooks, sheet by sheet. Same tab names on both sides, and you want every sheet checked against its counterpart in one pass — spreadsheet compare does the whole workbook.
- Two columns, or two pasted lists. Not a file diff at all: you want the overlap and the gaps. Compare two columns reads them out of your file, and compare two lists takes pasted text.
All four run in the browser and none of them uploads the file. If the values are close but not identical — the same customer written two ways — none of these is the right tool and fuzzy matching is.
What the colors mean
- Orange — the cell exists in both files with different contents. The old value is struck through, the new one follows it.
- Green — present only in the second file. A new row, or a cell that was blank before.
- Red — present only in the first file. A deleted row, or a cell that has been emptied.
The counts above the table are the summary worth pasting into an email: cells that differ, cells identical, rows on one side only.
What this Excel comparison tool does not do
Worth knowing before you trust a clean result:
- It compares values, not formulas. A cell containing
=SUM(A1:A9)is compared as the number Excel last calculated. If the formula changed but the result did not, this tool reports no difference. - It ignores formatting. Bold, fill color, column width, conditional formatting and number
formats are not compared. A cell showing
1,234.50and one showing1234.5are the same value and are reported as identical. - It ignores comments, charts, pivot caches and macros. Only the cell grid is read.
- Dates are read through their format. A date-formatted cell comes back as
2026-03-15rather than the serial number 46096, so two files that display the same date in different formats compare as equal.
Why "nothing is uploaded" is not a small detail here
The files people most often need to compare are the ones they should not be posting to a stranger's server: payroll runs before and after a raise cycle, a client's trial balance, a patient list, a pricing sheet under NDA. Most free comparison sites upload both files and process them server-side, which is a disclosure whether or not anything bad happens next.
This page does the work in your browser. `sheet.js`, the code that reads the files, contains no network call at all — open your browser's network tab and compare a file: no request carrying your data appears.
When a browser tab is not the right place
A one-off check is exactly what this page is for. Comparing the same two reports every Monday is not: you end up re-dropping files and re-reading a diff that a tool should be maintaining for you.
TableDI 2 is a desktop app for file work you redo every period: it keeps your sources, rules and delivery as a job, so next month you drop in the new files and run it again. Everything runs on your own machine. For a comparison you repeat, the key column is chosen once; each run starts with a preflight that checks the new files still have the columns the job expects, and anything the job cannot decide on its own comes back as an exception, showing the file and row it came from.
Questions people ask
Can I compare two Excel files without having Excel installed?
Yes. This page reads .xlsx directly in the browser, so it works on a machine with no Excel, no Microsoft 365 subscription and no add-ins. It also reads .csv and .tsv, and it can compare a .csv against an .xlsx.
Can it compare two sheets inside the same workbook?
Yes — drop the same file into both boxes, then pick a different sheet on each side. The sheet selectors appear once a workbook with more than one sheet is loaded.
Are my files uploaded anywhere?
No. The file is read by JavaScript running in this tab, using the browser's own
DecompressionStream to unzip .xlsx and a parser that runs on your machine. The page does load two visitor counters — static.cloudflareinsights.com and this site's own /_vercel/insights — but no request carrying your data appears in the network tab while you use it. Close the tab and the data is gone.
Does it work with old .xls files?
Not directly. The .xls format is a different, binary format from Excel 97. Open it in Excel, LibreOffice or Numbers and save as .xlsx or .csv, then come back. The tool tells you this rather than failing silently.
How do I compare two Excel sheets for differences?
If the two sheets are tabs in the same workbook, use compare Excel sheets. If each sheet is its own file, this page is the one: drop both, choose which sheet to read on each side, and match rows by a key column so re-sorted data still lines up. Either way the differences come back as changed cells plus the rows that exist on only one side.
Is there a comparison tool in Excel?
Yes, but not in every edition. Microsoft ships Spreadsheet Compare, and Microsoft’s own documentation says it is available “only in Excel for Windows in Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise plans and equivalent editions”. On a Mac, on Microsoft 365 Personal or Business, or on a machine without Excel, there is no comparison tool inside Excel — that is the gap this page fills. The table above lists the five alternatives worth knowing.
How do I compare 3 Excel spreadsheets for differences?
Compare them in pairs, and pick a stable reference. Compare file 1 against file 2, then file 1 against file 3, matching rows by the same key column each time; the two reports then describe every difference against one baseline. Comparing 2 against 3 as well tells you nothing the first two reports did not, unless the three files have different row sets — in which case the rows that appear in only one report are the interesting ones.
Can it compare formulas instead of calculated values?
No. Excel stores the last calculated result alongside the formula, and that result is what gets
compared. If you need to know that =SUM(A1:A9) became =SUM(A1:A10) while the
total stayed the same, this is not the tool for it.
How large a file can it handle?
Files of a few hundred thousand rows are fine on a normal laptop; the whole grid is held in memory, so a very large workbook is limited by your RAM rather than by any row cap we impose. The result table paints the first 300 rows and the downloadable report contains every difference.
Microsoft used to ship a tool called Spreadsheet Compare. Is this the same thing?
Same job, different reach. Spreadsheet Compare shipped only with certain Office editions on Windows. This page runs in any modern browser on any operating system, and it also does key-column matching, which that tool did not. There is a page about that specifically: a Spreadsheet Compare replacement that runs in the browser.
Related
Doing this every month?
In TableDI 2 you do it once, then save it as a job. Next month you drop in the new files and run it again.
macOS, Apple silicon and Intel; Windows is in progress (what to do meanwhile). Free is not a trial — no account, no card.
Last reviewed 2026-09-13 by the TableDI team. Something wrong on this page? Tell us — it is one inbox, read by the people who build TableDI.